Case Number 25796: Small Claims Court

The Private Life of Deer

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All Rise...

Judge Clark Douglas was hoping for more info on Bambi's secret drug addiction.

The Charge

How well do we know our neighbors from the natural world?

The Case

I grew up in a fairly rural part of Georgia, so I was surrounded by
white-tailed deer as a kid. It was quite common to see them just hanging out in
the yard, wandering around and making themselves at home. Of course, if you ever
got too close, they would bolt away. However, on one occasion I encountered a
particularly fearless deer. I approached him slowly, certain that he was
preparing to dash off at any moment. For some reason, he just stood there. I
walked right up to him and looked at him for a long time. After a few moments of
silence, he turned and sauntered back into the woods surrounding our house. I
felt we had shared a moment of connection. However, the new PBS documentary
The Private Life of Deer informs me that deer are essentially blind and
can only detect basic movement with their eyes. Our moment of connection was
undoubtedly just his attempt to determine what that fuzzy object slowly heading
towards him could be.

That's the sort of fun fact The Private Life of Deer offers up on a
regular basis, doing its best to undo our assumptions about these increasingly
omnipresent creatures. For instance, when one sees a deer sitting down in the
grass, one might assume the deer is simply taking it easy for a while. On the
contrary: sitting is a crucial part of a deer's digestion process. The special
also examines the alarmingly large number of traffic accidents involving deer
(indeed, I totaled my first car at the young age of 17 when a deer bolted across
the road in the wee hours of the morning), but suggest that deer do seem to
learn to cross a road more cautiously as they grow older. Still, with roughly
one million deer-related traffic accidents happening each year (no, really!),
it's a serious problem without an easy answer.

One of the most remarkable sections of the documentary examines how quickly
the deer population has grown in recent years. With approximately 30 million
deer currently roaming North America, it's no surprise that deer have begun
making themselves at home in heavily populated areas. While deer are peaceful
creatures, this has nonetheless created a number of problems that will
eventually require a solution. Still, The Private Life of Deer isn't
particularly interested in the problems of the future; just the facts of the
present. It's a typically informative and engaging special that should prove
rewarding for viewers of all ages.

As is typically the case with these releases, The Private Life of
Deer has received a strong standard-def transfer that offers source footage
of varying quality. The stuff shot by professional documentarians looks great.
The stuff shot on cheap cameras by ordinary citizens? Not so much. The Dolby 2.0
Stereo track gets the job done effectively. No supplements are included.